1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a drug delivery apparatus and method, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for selectively and locally delivering a drug to internal body tissue. More specific applications of the present invention relate to an apparatus and method for limiting restenosis of natural or an artificially dilated blood vessel and localized treatment of tumors or other tissue.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many techniques currently exist for delivering drugs or other medicaments to body tissue. These include, among possible others, oral administration, injection directly into body tissue such as through an intramuscular injection or the like, topical or transcutaneous administration where the drug is passively absorbed, or caused to pass, into or across the skin or other surface tissue and intravenous administration which involves introducing a selected drug directly into the blood stream.
Except for topical or transcutaneous administration, the above drug delivery systems tend to be systemic. In other words, administration of the drug is delivered throughout the body by the blood stream. Although transcutaneous drug delivery systems tend to be localized delivery systems in that the drug is delivered locally to a selected area, such drug delivery systems are also, by definition, limited to application of a drug externally through the patient's skin or other surface tissue. Thus, the above described drug delivery systems are generally not appropriate for the localized treatment of internal body tissue.
Although many medical situations are satisfactorily treated by the general systemic administration of a drug, there are a great many treatments which could be facilitated and/or improved by the ability to deliver or administer a drug locally to a selected portion of internal body tissue, without appreciably affecting the surrounding tissue.
One example is the ability to treat the dilated vessel in percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), and thus limit or prevent restenosis. In PTCA, catheters are inserted into the cardiovascular system under local anesthesia and an expandable balloon portion is then inflated to compress the atherosclerosis and dilate the lumen of the artery. Despite the general success of such PTCA procedures, high restenosis rates (reported to be as high as 47% continue to be a major problem. Various techniques have been tried to treat stenosed vessels including the use of lasers, application of heat and the use of intravascular stents. However, many of these are still under investigation with mixed results, while others have generally not been successful. The ability to administer a drug locally to the dilated portion of the artery in PTCA procedures, without significantly affecting other tissues, would greatly enhance the ability to address the restenosis problem.
A second example of specific application for a local drug delivery system for delivering a drug to an internal body tissue is in the treatment of cancerous tumors or the like. In the treatment of such tumors, an objective is to administer the cancer drug so that it localizes, as much as possible, in the tumor itself. Such drugs are commonly administered systemically through the blood stream. Various means are then utilized for causing the drug to localize in the cancer tumor. Nevertheless, significant portions of the drug still circulate through the blood stream, thereby affecting noncancerous tissue, producing undesirable side effects, and limiting the dosages of the drug which can be safely administered.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for delivering a drug selectively and locally to internal body tissue, without significantly affecting other tissue. There is a further need for such a system and method for the localized treatment of internal body tissues to limit restenosis following PTCA, to treat cancerous tumors or the like, or to treat various other medical situations.